Group Management for Just Culture - Essay Example

"Group Management for Just Culture" is a wonderful example of a paper on medical ethics.
Mistakes do occur within organizations and individuals in management positions have an obligation to ensure such mistakes or errors are identified and ways to improve processes and systems implemented. This paper focuses on a description of an adverse event in my organization, and further elucidates how role conflict or ambiguity might have influenced this situation. Additionally, principles of just culture are applied in a bid to explain how I would handle this situation as the group manager.

According to Pepe and Cataldo (2011), the notion of a just culture denotes the manner or approach through which institutions take care, solve, or manages safety matters. Pepe and Cataldo (2011) also state that "In a just culture, 'hazardous' human behavior such as staff errors, near-misses and risky actions are identified and discussed openly in hopes of finding ways to improve processes and systems, not to identify and punish the individual" (p. 56). There are numerous medical errors in health organizations all over the world. A description of an adverse event in my organization involves a doctor who gave directions for drug allocation to a patient but did not comprehend the fact that the drug contained an ambiguous element that led to an allergic reaction to the patient. This in itself is a medical error or mistake and the doctor ought not to be reprimanded for the mistake. Rather, ways to solve these issues and strategies to ensure that such mistakes do not reoccur ought to be implemented.  

Role conflict and ambiguity may have contributed to this medical error. As elucidated by Tunc and Kutanis (2009), role conflict arises in situations whereby workers or employees are involved in more than one task simultaneously. Role ambiguity on the other hand arises when the individual is tentative of what ought to be achieved or realized in his or her work (Tunc and Kutanis, 2009). Role conflict and ambiguity, therefore, lead to a lack of harmonization of individual roles, meaning the individual is doubtful of his or her duties and obligations. This might have elevated stress levels among the employees, and this is often accompanied by dwindling or reduction of organization performance as well as decreased effectiveness (Tunc and Kutanis, 2009). In such working conditions, the doctor can easily overlook issues and hence fail to identify or comprehend elements present in the drug that could cause allergic reactions to the patient.

This error can be solved through the application of principles of just culture. One of the principles of just culture according to The Just Culture Community (n. d) is the conception of a culture that establishes and subsequently encourages a learning environment within an institution. This would enable doctors and other staff members to share information among themselves, and also talk and discuss issues in a decent manner geared towards minimization or errors. The issue of accountability would also go a long way in helping reduce such medical errors (The Just Culture Community, n. d). As a manager, it would be of significance to hold the doctors accountable for any mistakes in harmony with his obligations and duties. All staff members should also be allowed to discuss freely and identify a punitive action that can be taken against those who conduct intentional mistakes as a result of negligence. In so doing, employees would be more proactive in their work and hence errors minimized (Pepe and Cataldo, 2011).

In conclusion, the identification of mistakes within health organizations as well as other institutions, in general, should be aimed at addressing the problems and challenges contributing to the mistakes rather than punishing individuals. However, mistakes or errors that may be a result of negligence may attract some punitive actions. Stress is a major contributor to errors within organizations and hence managers should ensure all employees comprehend their roles and duties in order to prevent mistakes that result from role ambiguity. Read More